This blog is a great opportunity to share ideas about ways to
transform schooling as we know it, to help all students realise their
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Friday, August 10, 2018

Every
week Bruce Hammonds and I collect
articles to share with teachers to encourage a creative approach to teaching
and learning. I welcome suggested articles, so if you come across a gem, email
it to me at allanalach@inspire.net.nz

Why Are We Still Personalizing Learning If It’s Not Personal?

‘As an ideal, personalized learning aims to provide instructional
experiences tailored to each learner’s preferences and interests, and at a pace
appropriate to their needs.But despite our good intentions, personalized
learning in practice often falls short of those ideals. And that’s due to a
number of misconceptions that persist around personalization.’

These Educators Are Using Personalized Learning to Think Differently
About Teaching

‘Students have more agency in their education and are becoming
creators and contributors in the learning process. The goals aim to ensure that
learning is still focused on rigor and hitting the standards, but that students
are also learning soft skills and advocating for their own education and needs
as learners.’

‘The goal of an advisory is to help students figure out who they
are, where they’re headed and how

they’re going to get there. Through an
advisory system, each student has an adult who knows them and helps them
navigate high school so that they leave with a meaningful, personalized plan
and are prepared for post-secondary options.’

‘I was recently sent an email and asked to identify some of the
challenges I see for the future of

learning in education. These are things that
I have noticed through my travels and after countless conversations with
educators, and things that I have seen in my work. Although I am providing
challenges, I am not necessarily giving solutions but am using this space to
work out some of my ideas.’

Thanks to Tony Gurr for this one.‘As she explains, researchers who have studied culture have tracked
and demonstrated a strong and

significant correlation between organizational
culture and an organization’s performance. Once principals understand what
constitutes culture — once they learn to see it not as a hazy mass of
intangibles, but as something that can be pinpointed and designed — they can
start to execute a cultural vision.’

Maybe she needs to have a quiet chat to Minister of Education Chris
Hipkins…

‘Art and wellbeing, the idea that creativity and joy should never be
just the domain of the privileged few, but accessible to all, isn't new, but
hopefully it's coming of age. Peter Fraser was onto it back in the 1940s when
he was Prime Minister. He knew that creating a foundation to allow the seeds of
art and culture to take root was a key ingredient in establishing a sense of
identity.’

‘So, what makes Finnish schools consistently excellent? A curriculum
reform adopted by the Finnish National Agency for Education in 2016 set key
goals that I think are clear reflections of the Finnish approach to education.’

‘Elwyn’s educational philosophy was based on the belief that all real
learning must be anchored in

personal experience. It was this conviction that
provided the foundation for his developmental approach to education. Central to
this was his theory of integration, a personalised process whereby children
moved from one expressive medium to another, between all subject areas.’